or video file, if you can. I have an inexpensive program, for example, called "Propaganda" that lets me make audio files from anything I am playing on screen, and then the results can be edited and saved as MP3s. So, suppose there's a Senate hearing coming up that is gonna be on Cspan, and I'm watching it online via realplayer or media player. I could easily run Propaganda and set it to record, so that the whole thing can be saved as an MP3, and then uploaded to a server. The files created are pretty small, too, so they don't take up a lot of disk space.

You know how there are things going on in Congress, speeches that are made that are great, but are NEVER SEEN OR HEARD AGAIN and how many people actually go to the Congressional Record to read the transcripts?

WE have the chance, every single person with a computer who watches stuff online and can afford a few bucks for an audio recorder (there may even be freebies, who knows?) to LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT OUR DEMOCRATS are doing and HOW THE REPUBLICANS ARE FAILING.

Again, you're gonna be doing it anyway, think ahead and make an MP3 and then share it online.

EDITING to add that if you want to PM me about how to do this, do it. We have eyes and ears into Congressional goings on and can shine a light on it.

In other words, you can make your own podcasts to share when you want to talk about something and share it, but also you can equally RECORD stuff you are watching and save it as an audio file.

I'm not recommending Propaganda over other programs, incidentally, and if you know of others, list 'em. For example, I know on Fark, people use Audioedit which presumably will do the same thing. Propaganda is pretty easy to use, though.

and Graham's torture speech. Cspan usually replays the speeches later or heck, if you want to make an MP3 out of it, you could go to the Cspan page, and play the video while recording it.

Now, that's an MP3, AUDIO file.

Let me describe what I do for video, which, obviously, is gonna be larger files. The equipment I have is a PVR (not TIVO but one that comes with Dish) and a TV Capture card in my PC, plus (free) Windows Movie Maker. When I see something I really like, I PAUSE it on the PVR, set the TV Capture card to record, and then unpause the PVR. The capture card makes WMV cards. With the TV capture card, I could equally capture directly to Windows Movie Maker but for some technical reasons I don't do that. Before I got the capture card, I used to PVR the info, and then record it to DVD, and take the DVD over to the PC and convert it.

Saying that it can be province of a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE to make video and audio clips of what we see. IF THE CORPORATE MEDIA WON'T SHOW IT OR PLAY IT, we can.

I'm talking particularly about Cspan. The frothy stuff on CNN/MSNBC/FOX etc is entertaining but it's not the real crack, especially when Corporate Media edits down, omits or talks over what people are REALLY saying and doing.

I recorded, earlier, via TV capture card, the speeches from McCain and Graham regarding the torture amendment. Although I don't completely agree with (especially) Graham, I think some of what they say is very important, and shows that there are Republicans who don't agree with the Bush administration idea of torturing prisoners.

What I will do when I get time is play it with Propaganda running. Propaganda will capture the audio, and when the video completes, I can save the audio portion to an MP3. Then I will upload it to my server. Will it be a video? No, but I don't want to waste valuable disk space with SHOWING McCain, I only care that he is heard. The file, since it's an MP3, won't be very large, certainly not as large as a video file.

And people then can hear McCain, where otherwise, if you were relying on Corporate media, you would either hear ABOUT IT or a 30 second clip that may or may not represent what he said (or some gasbags would be bloviating about the substance).

I'm encouraging anyone and all to do this because it is truly easy, and, if you watch video over the internet, you already have half the battle solved for making an audio MP3.

9. I didn't say Propaganda was free, and there may be other freebie recording

tools out there. And I'm not hawking Propaganda in particular (ie, this is NOT SPAM).

But I'm saying that this is, to me, too important to leave to the Corporate Media shills.

If you don't have Cspan you can't watch and hear what our congresspersons are saying. You rely on someone coming to this forum to "feed the cube rats" if you are at work. You think, wrongly, that the Democrats don't speak up on issues because they have no voice on Corporate Media.

To me, spending 50 smacks was well worth it to consider that if I heard something that inspired me or showed how things really are, I could record it and share it.

Again, there may be freebie programs that do audio recording out there, but if not, it's not impossible.

You have to have a way to get the information OFF your TIVO. Originally, I did it by recording the TIVO stuff to a DVD recorder also attached in the same setup, then taking the DVD over to my computer and converting it.

Now I have a PC Capture card that directly records the info on the tv to a WMV card. Specifically, it's wired in through the wall so that I can also take advantage of the PVR.

So, step by step for me. I see Tim Ryan on tv right now and decide to record him. I can, because I'm using PVR, go back to where he started, pause the PVR, and then go set the PC capture card, which is tied into the television/pvr setup, to start recording. Then, I unpause the PVR and when done, stop the capture.

Then, I load the WMV into Windows Movie Maker (for a technical reason, I don't directly capture to Windows Movie Maker, but I could). Windows Movie Maker comes FREE with XP, and lets you edit stuff.

it's called CocoaJT and it's on VersionTracker. It works--well, it sort of records Windows Media video with some tweaking--but you can't beat the price. And it does get rave reviews from folks who want a quick and easy way to watch streaming video in real time.

17. Because I'm on a soapbox- this applies also to REAL events or State events

I was disappointed in the War protest last month that Cspan didn't show the march itself. I like crowd scenes (I watched the NY protest march for 4 solid hours when it occurred). Truthout did the protest march, at least part of it. But imagine if there was a "designated videographer" who, instead of marching with everyone else, RECORDS them, and then uploads the video to an internet server someplace?

Second, in Texas and I'm sure it's like this in other states, the Texas State Legislature is streamed online. I haven't done it yet but if I can watch them online, I can RECORD THEM in audio. (I also have a video recorder for online but it's a little flaky) Imagine that you can share stuff that normally people aren't going to hear real-time.

19. And speaking of questions: What about copyright laws and "Fair Use"?

I'm not a lawyer and know little-to-nothing about copyright law. It doesn't seem as though posting A/V of Congressional goings-on would be a problem. But what about posting clips from commercial programs? Is that covered under "Fair Use"?

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